Lucky 7 meme... and some other stuff

Caitin at All About Growing Up and Becoming a Famous Author tagged me in this meme, which I've been following around bloggerland and really enjoying. I love the title of Caitin's blog - it reminds me of all the dreams I had as a child.

Here are the rules:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS.
2. Go to line 7.
3. Copy down the next 7 lines - sentences or paragraphs - and post them as they're written. No cheating.
4. Tag 7 authors.
5. Let them know.


I'm currently working on a collection of novellas, so I put them all together to figure out which one was page 77.

He edges forward. My breath is shallow, constricted. My face is warm. Why did he have to bring this up? Why couldn’t we just go off into the sunset, happily ever after? In years to come, once we’d settled down and had five children and a dog and a farmhouse in Yorkshire, he could turn round and say, I know it was you.

I move closer and bow my head. My tears are real. They fall down my face in single file. Murray reaches to touch my shoulder. I can’t think straight.

“Did you do it?” he asks hesitantly, barely audible. He draws deep, slow breaths.

This excerpt is quite near the end of the second story. It's lucky I didn't have to paste a page later - it would have given away the ending!

I'm going to cheat slightly, and not tag anyone. I know this is naughty, and that if no one passed the tag on, there wouldn't be a game. But I've read so many, that I know a lot of people have already done this. And I hate missing anyone out of the fun. So, if you want to play, consider yourself tagged. And you're welcome to call me a cheat!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And now for the other stuff. I rely on email notifications to keep me returning to blogs I've commented on, but I've noticed that on the pop-up comments box that a lot of blogs use, the option to be emailed has disappeared. I just wanted to say, officially - because this has been bothering me for a few days - that I'm not ignoring you. I'd love to know if you replied to my comment, I just haven't figured out a way to remember which blogs I commented on!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even as I type, I'm not sure if I want to do this, but here's one of the pictures from my recent photo shoot, which I mentioned in my last post. I'd prefer not to have any comments about it, because I really don't think I come out well. This is the picture Hubby thinks is the nicest.

I had hoped to have my photo taken next to Smeaton's Tower, but workmen were putting the scaffolding up  for its annual clean. Perhaps that's why the day felt so wrong - the image I had in mind wasn't possible.

Anyway... this is Smeaton's Tower...
 

Say 'Cheese!'

Today's insecurity is a long-held one. I hate having my photo taken. Something happens between my face and the camera which means I end up looking nothing like myself. I pull daft expressions. I have my eyes permanently shut. And I look very grumpy, even though my brain thinks I'm smiling.

Yesterday, I had some promo photos taken. Despite my fear and hatred - and because portrait painters are so 18th century - I thought it was about time.

So, we went up to Plymouth Hoe, one of my favourite places, and I listened to the sea lapping against the small bit of beach Plymouth still has (there's a lot of concrete along the shoreline), and I almost forgot to be nervous. The photographer said 'Good' quite a lot, but I'm not sure whether it was because the photos looked good or he was just glad I hadn't broken his camera.

Now all I have to do is wait for the photos to appear in my inbox...

I'll be using them on this blog, on my Goodreads profile and on my Facebook page, so you'll all be able to see them... Excuse me, I'm off to have a panic attack!

UPDATED: I've seen the photos. That's all I'm prepared to say at the moment. Although you can help cheer me up by checking out my Goodreads and Facebook links ;-)

Some gorgeous awards

Rachel at Writing on the Wall has passed these beautiful awards to me. Aren't they wonderful? Thank you so much, Rachel.

I've done some research and the Dream Launcher award was instigated by Doctor Faerie Godmother to thank people who've made a difference to her blogging/writing world.


So, I'd like to pass the Dream Launcher award to Melissa Ann Goodwin, who's quite a recent blogger friend, but has been so sweet to me over the past couple of weeks especially.

I'd also like to thank Teresa F Morgan and Marta Szemik who are among my earliest followers, and still frequently comment and offer great advice and support.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Sunshine Award has been harder to pin down - there doesn't seem to be an origin. To accept this, I have to answer the following questions:

1. Favorite Color? Currently orange - but in the past it's been red, then blue, then purple, with a brief flirtation with green.
2. Favorite Animal? Meerkats, because we've gone meerkat crazy in the UK.
3. Favorite Number? Thirteen - my birthday!
4. Favorite (non-alcoholic) drink? Tea.
5. Facebook or Twitter? Facebook. I've thought about Twitter, but that's as far as I get. 
6. My passion? Writing, my kids and the gym. 
7. Getting or Giving presents? I'm bad at giving presents, but I still love it. I'm proud that I moved my Mum to tears with a present once.
8. Favorite pattern? I've never thought about it, but probably the pattern of waves on a stormy day.
9. Favorite day of the week? Tuesday. There's a reason, but I'm not telling ;-)
10. Favorite flower? Daisies. They remind me of making daisy chains when I was little and walking into class after lunch with flowers around my neck.

I'm going to pass this award to the blogs that I love reading. So, Linda K, Robyn Alana Engel, and Julie Fedderson this award's for you!

And the winner is...

Thanks to everyone who entered my 100 follower giveaway!

The entrants

And the winners, chosen by 

Number One son.

Congratulations to Baggy and Sarah. I'll be in touch!

100 awesome people!

Thanks so much to all my new followers, and thanks to all my long-standing followers too. You are all awesome!

So, as promised, now I'm coming to end of my blog tour (one more guest post in a couple of weeks time), I'm going to giveaway two copies of my ebook.

All you need to do is tell me in the comments below that you want to be included in the draw.

I'll be accepting entries until 8pm on Sunday 4th March, when names will be pulled out of the hat

From Santa Fe to... Sarah's place

Today, I'm taking over Sarah Pearson's Empty White Pages blog, talking about word count.

So a big thank you to Sarah for inviting me.

As I don't know exactly where Sarah lives, I thought this tea cosy pretty much sums us up as a country. (Apologies, Sarah if you don't come from England.)



After today, I have one more guest post lined up and then my little blog tour is all over, and normal service will be resumed - at least until April, when I'll be posting every day bar Sundays!

To coincide with that, I thought I might have a Cat and The Dreamer give-away. And then I noticed I currently have 92 followers (a big thank-you to all the newbies), so I thought that maybe, if I can get to 100 followers, I'd give away two copies! Watch this space...

My first guest post

So, once again, I'm not really here. I'm off on my travels - this time to Santa Fe (hence the photo, which Google Images assures me is Santa Fe), where Melissa Ann Goodwin has invited me over to talk about how much I've learnt about the publishing industry.

Prepare to be astounded...:-)

I'm collecting all my travelling links on the Cat and The Dreamer tab at the top of the page, just in case you want to find them.


I'd also like to say a big thank you to Rek at A Chronicle of Dreams, who has reviewed Cat and The Dreamer.

And another thank you to everyone who read and commented on the A-Z Challenge Tag post on Friday. If it's made you want to take part in the challenge in April, please check out the link here to sign up. The co-hosts are on a big push to have 1000 participants signed up by the end of February, and as I write this the total stands at 746. It would be really great to see you there.

And right now, I hope you'll follow me over to Melissa's blog.